Tributes For Nick Durandt

TRIBUTES have poured in for the late boxing trainer Nick Durandt following his death on Friday in a motorcycle accident.

Durandt (53), who was Crusaders Bike Club’s president, reportedly collided with a vehicle between Bethlehem and Clarens in the Free State.

During his career as a boxing trainer, he produced 30 world champions and 95 national champions.

Boxing trainer Colin Nathan expressed shock: “It’s such a sad loss for South African boxing and South African sport because here is a guy who achieved so much for South African boxing. We’ll probably never see the likes of a trainer manager like Nick Durant again in this country…flamboyant, charismatic, fast with his tongue and produced the goods. I’m sitting here and I am stunned. He is such a prolific figure of South African boxing and it’s beyond me to think that he is no longer on this earth.”

Durant was in Phillip ‘The Time Bomb’ Ndou’s corner as the then 26-year old boxer went the distance with Floyd Mayweather on November 1, 2003.

An emotional Ndou said: “I want people to remember Nick as a father and a person that changed people’s lives. This is a man that got me to fight Floyd Mayweather, who we say is the greatest now.”

President Jacob Zuma also sent his condolences: “South Africa has lost one of its best trainers in the history of boxing, who was not only a trainer, promoter, manager but also a father figure to his stellar trainees.

“Mr Durandt was renowned for taking young boys out of the streets and making champions out of them. He also represented and positioned our country’s boxing talent among the best in the world. We wish to convey our heartfelt condolences to the Durandt family and the entire boxing fraternity.”

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